Girls in West Pokot Narrowly Escape the ‘Marriage Market’

The tone in her mother’s voice was firm and clear. “You have no place to live if you are not circumcised!”. It was the December Holiday season set for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) or female circumcision in Poroswa village, Pokot located northwest of Kenya . The celebration to mark this event is usually accompanied by numerous festivities like lots of eating and drinking of local brew. Caroline’s parents have been attending the feasts from home to home when other girls get ‘circumcised’. Finally the time had come for her to play host as she demanded thirteen-year-old Caroline to get the cut.

Caroline’s parents are staunch believers in FGM. In the traditional Pokot culture,  the value of a girl is dowry and it is only by undergoing FGM that girls are released into the ‘marriage market’. In the end, it is usually the suitor with the highest number of goats and cows, regardless of their age, who gets the girl. When Caroline resisted the idea, her parents threatened to chase her away from home. “ You cannot rebel against us. Forget about education, that is no business for girls,” Caroline recounts the threatening message from her parents.

It is the same horryfying tale for Ruth, another rescued girl. She was told, “we need  you married off so that we can get cows to educate your younger brothers”

Disturbingly, many girls in the Pokot community continue to be confronted with risks such as FGM and early/child marriage. Fortunately, for Caroline, Ruth and a host of other girls they have now found a safe environment where they now call home at St. Elizabeth Girls Secondary and Morpus Primary School.

Finding safety finally

In order to secure a better future for herself Caroline resolved to escape the cycle of FGM. In the wee hours of the night , unaware of the dangers of attack by wildlife or being caught she took off. She ran for two days, evading capture by pretending she had been sent to a relative in a different village. She finally arrived at Morpus Rescue Center and Primary School just adjacent to St. Elizabeth Girls Secondary School.  Caroline was warmly welcomed by the Head Teacher of Morpus Primary School, James Lokuk. It is the acceptance into the centre and school that signalled the begining of her brighter future in education.

That was four years ago. Caroline now aged 17 years is safe from FGM, a practice that has been hugely condemened by campaigners for denying girls an opportunity to get an education and fulfil their dreams. She is now in secondary school (form two) just nextdoor in St. Elizabeth School. The school was constructed through the support of World Vision.

Caroline, who hopes to become an Electrical Technician now enjoys consistent and best schooling  environment she could ever imagine unlike before when it was on and off. “Back home I was not allowed to regularly attend school. “Since I am the second born in a polygamous home, I was often asked to stay home and take care of my younger siblings while the boys went to school,” Caroline comments.

I am very thankful to World Vision donors for giving me and the other girls a chance to get an education,” Caroline says. “Truthfully, we did not know what will become of us after completing our primary education. I worried there would be no place to go and no one to cover our school fees thereafter. Now this is all being catered for,” She says. 

Just like most of the rescued girls she wants to succeed in life and someday go back to the village to advocate for other girls at risk of the oppressive culture of FGM. “I want to succeed so that I can help those I left behind, by advocating for their education” she explained.

The constitution in article 53 talks about the elimination of all harmful cultural practices such as FGM, early marriages and all forms of abuse and violence against children.

As the world marks the Day of the African Child in June 16th, whose theme is: “A child friendly, quality, free and compulsory education for all children in Africa”, World Vision is continuing with its advocacy efforts to strengthen child protection systems. Strengthening child protection systems in schools and the community i.e. addressing those issues that hinder children from accessing quality education is key to our implementation,” Caroline Nalianya, National Child Protection Coordinator-WV Kenya.

The names in this story have been changed to protect identities

By Justus Koech, Senior Donor Liaison Officer in World Vision Kenya.